Surprisingly, Bruins get final shot at Pac-12 title

SEATTLE – As UCLA left the court at Beasley Coliseum in Pullman, Wash., on Wednesday having been thoroughly beaten by the conference's worst team, it appeared the Bruins' hopes of winning their first Pac-12 title since 2008 had slipped away.

But the Pac-12 hasn't been nearly that simple this season. So it's no surprise that, despite their embarrassing effort against Washington State, UCLA still has a chance to clinch at least a share of the Pac-12 title Saturday morning against Washington.

The Bruins have Colorado to thank for that second chance after the Buffaloes dominated first-place Oregon on Thursday night. The Ducks' loss was a huge gain for the Bruins, who looked like they had no business being Pac-12 regular-season champions after their performance against the Cougars.

Against the Huskies, the Bruins will need to be much, much better than they were Wednesday – a game that saw them lose the rebounding battle by 23 and trail by more than 20 points for significant portions.

The performance raised questions of whether UCLA's young core can actually be consistent in its effort for an extended period of time – something that could hamper the Bruins' chances of going far in the postseason.

But after blaming himself for the Bruins' effort Wednesday, Howland seemed unquestionably positive about what kind of effort his team will bring to the floor Saturday.

"Honestly, I'm not worried about that at all," Howland said. "I'm very confident for the remainder of the 2012-13 season that you'll never see another effort like that out of our team."

Better effort alone might not be enough to down the Huskies in the regular-season finale, though. The Bruins have lost eight consecutive games in Seattle, winning just once in Howland's tenure.

UCLA was lucky to beat Washington at home earlier in the season. Senior point guard Larry Drew II drained a shot at the buzzer to lift the Bruins, despite the fact they shot a putrid 33 percent from the field – their worst shooting effort of the season.

"(Washington is) really good," Howland said. "They've won either the Pac-12 title in the tournament or in the regular season four of the last six years."

But on Saturday, it's UCLA that will have the opportunity to lock up a Pac-12 title – a chance that seemed like a distant dream just a few days ago.

After missing two consecutive games and playing a relatively ineffective 32 minutes in his next two games combined, UCLA forward Travis Wear is expected to make a healthy return to the starting lineup in the Bruins' regular-season finale.

Wear sprained a ligament in his right foot during practice Feb. 23 and had been hampered by the injury leading into Wednesday's loss. In that game, Wear appeared to aggravate the injury in the second half and missed the rest of the contest.

Howland said Wear will start and should play normal minutes Saturday after practicing Friday.